0
JANIJA&Y I8TH, 1945
WAR IN THE AIR
bridges, and fighter-bombers exploded
two large ammunition dumps near
Parma. The lines on both sides of the
Brenner Pass have been bombed fre-
quently of late. It is cheering to hear
of our aircraft getting busy once more
ir Italy ; but we can hardly expect
sensational advances on the ground in
the winter.
In the Ardennes
TpOWARDS the end of last week it-*• became certain that Rundstedt
had decided to cut his losses and with-draw from the salient he had created
in the Ardennes. This time Hitlerdoes not seem to have interfered and
ordered the German troops to diewhere they stood. It is probable that,
however he may like to override hismilitary advisers, he is in no position
to give such orders to Rundstedt. Heonce dismissed him from the command
in the West, but he had to bring himback. That puts the Marshal in a
very strong position vis-a-vis theFiihrer, however much the latter may
dislike the former as an anti-Nazi.
Field Marshal Montgomery, in hisrecent Press interview, asked what
Rundstedt was trying to achieve byhis attack, and replied that no one
could tell for certain. His gains wouldnot win the war, and he was likely,
slowly but surely, to lose them all.Since then the pressure by Mont-
gomery's Army Group on the northand that of General Bradley on the
south have been gnawing down theside walls of the German salient. At
the moment of writing, the attemptto cut it in half by pressure from Bas-
togne on the one side and Grand-menil on the other has not succeeded,
and the Germans were left with onegood road by which they could escape.
Then came what was for the Allies atragedy—the snow. Had the skies
WIDOW'S MIGHT : An almost plan view of the Northrop P-61 Black Widownight fighter. The cannon with which it is equipped are not visible, but the top
turret with two .5;n. machine guns can be seen pointing forward.
been clear, their aircraft could havehammered that road and converted
what seems to be an orderly with-drawal into a holocaust like that round
Falaise.
The Germans are very clever atwithdrawing their forces if Hitler
allows them to start in good time ; andat the moment it looks as if the whole
incident will be for the enemy a failurebut not a disaster.
The German soldiers will, however,scarcely fail to remember the words
of Rundstedt's proclamation at thestart of the adventure. He said then
that it was the last great effort to tryto win the war and that everything
depended on it. To any intelligentGerman it must follow that the retreat
means that no chance of winning thewar is left. The soldiers are doubt-
less very thankful that they are able
MIXED CARGO : Incendiaries and H.E. bombs falling from anattacking the newly built Japanese port of Khao Huagang on
to pull out without being cut to piecesby Allied aircraft; but they can
hardly retreat in very good heart.
The German soldier, ploddingwearily back from Laroche towards
the Rhine probably knows little aboutwhat is happening on the Eastern
front, and is too full of his owntroubles to care much. The High
Command, however, must be full ofdismay at the failure (so far) to relieve
the German Army in Budapest. Ifthe enemy loses all the troops in the
Hungarian capital it will be a seriousblow to him, for man-power is now
one of his main problems. For thecity of Budapest the Germans have
said openly that they do not care. Itsloss can be borne with equanimity.
What they do dread is the loss ofVienna, and it seems that that must
follow the loss of Budapest. The Allieswould look on the occupation of
Vienna as a liberation rather than asa conquest; for, though Austrian
troops have fought against us in thiswar, the last independent Government
of Austria was strongly opposed toHitler and all his works. The way in
which Mussolini first supported Austriaagainst Germany and then deserted
her is one of the blackest incidents inthe grimy career of the Fascist
Dictator.
Bombing Singapore
HTHE U.S. 20th Bomber Command,
-1- nnder Maj. Gen. Curtis Lemay,
which is stationed in India, has been
very active of late. Within ten days
recently its Superfortresses carried out
four major missions. The first three
were directed against Bangkok, For-
mosa (which has since been bombed
by carrier aircraft from the U.S. 3rd
Fleet) and Kyushu. The fourth was
.j^-. »«...„. ^S***^ targets in Singapore and
alay Penii&uta. Penang^sThe harbours and surround-